The Flagship Event in Kathmandu, Nepal
6th March 2019
The Flagship event in Nepal brought together global leaders, including the Chair and Vice-Chair of SheDecides Tikhala Itaye and Lilianne Ploumen, and leaders from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and more, uniting to plan bold new action in Asia.
Building on the first fabulous flagship event in Pretoria in 2018, the Nepal event was a triumph, and a tribute to the vision of global SheDecides Champion Sivananthi Thanenthiran, Executive Director of the regional network ARROW, Neha Chuhan from the IPPF regional team, and the hard work of local partners Beyond Beijing Committee and UNFPA.
The Flagship Event had the trademark SheDecides creativity – with song and dance from MTV’s local partner We For Change, spoken word performances and music – and young people taking the lead. The event was moderated by Nirmala Gurung, from the Nepal YWCA with Gogontlejang Phaladi from Botswana, and it was wonderful to see them welcome Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister, Upendra Yadav, and Minister of Women and Children, Tham Maya Thapa, as well as senior officials from the governments of Belgium, Canada and the Netherlands, the 25x25, UNFPA and partners of Frontline AIDS, ICM, MSI, MTV, Women Deliver, YWCA – and many other local partners of the global Champions.
The representatives of the Nepalese government spoke warmly about the importance of SheDecides to Nepal and pledged their solidarity to the movement. A couple of days after the Flagship event there was a planning meeting which brought together over 30 local partners full of ideas on to how to take the movement forward locally. Amongst speeches, spoken word and music performances, there were panel discussions focused on the three SheDecides goals: Stand Up, Speak Out; Change the Rules; and Unlock Resources. New Lead of the SheDecides Support Unit, Naisola Likimani, joined the event and was featured on the national TV with an in-depth interview on the programme “Power Chat”.